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Friday, January 4, 2013

Winter TCA 2013: NatGeo's Announcements & Killing Lincoln

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

The National Geographic Channel has been making a big
investment in series television and in making its specials “special.” They have
the benefit of being an old brand in a market where many competitors re-brand
themselves every two years. Today, they presented information on some of their upcoming
works, including February’s two-hour factual drama Killing Kennedy, based on Bill O’Reilly’s best-selling book, and series
Inside Combat Rescue, following US
Air Force battle medicine. Animals are still a major focus for them, of course,
and the new features will include Spoiled
Rotten Pets (pretty self-explanatory), The
IncredibleDr. Pol (a house
call-making vet), Leader of the Pack
(a series that matches abandoned dogs with adoption candidates), and, of
course, Alpha Dogs, which was a main
focus later in the panel. Furthermore, a couple of competitive shows are coming
our way, including Ultimate Survival:
Alaska, where eight top outdoorsmen make their way through the brutal
frontier, and Are You Tougher Than a Boy
Scout?, which has adults go head-to-head with Scouts in various challenges,
like using a commando line to cross a gorge.

The major features being promoted in addition to documentary
series Alpha Dogs were factual drama Killing Lincoln and documentary
miniseries The 80s. Look for an
article on The 80s at a later date,
but here’s the scoop on Killing Lincoln,
which will premiere in March in 171 countries and 38 languages. National
Geographic Channel’s first-ever docudrama “combines dramatic re-creations with
historical insight in a thrilling chronicle of the final days of President
Lincoln and the treasonous plot by one of the most notorious, yet complex
villains of all time.”

National Geographic Channel

Killing Lincoln, narrated
by Tom Hanks and starring Billy Campbell as our assassinated President, brought
a panel of actors Bill Campbell, Jesse Johnson, Geraldine Hughes, and Graham
Beckel, as well as writer and executive producer Erik Jenderssen. Here are some
highlights from the Q&A as well as the literature provided by the network:

When asked to describe Lincoln in his own words, Campbell
said, “He was arguably our greatest President. He was self-taught,
well-rounded, a complex and profound human being who did great things for our
country. I can’t think of any American historical figure who is as justifiably
revered, or who was as tragically fated.”

When asked if he had any hesitations on playing such a “reviled, historic villain,”
Johnson replied that “Quite the contrary, I leapt at the opportunity. Playing
villains can often be the most rewarding experience as an actor because you get
to examine deep dark places of yourself that might otherwise remain unexplored.
Booth is a particularly rewarding villain to play because there is so little of
his personal life and stage career that is known by the general public. Being
able to lace all of the action that takes place in the film with his potent
history and to ignite the contest of the story with his theatrical upbringing
and magnanimous demeanor could very well shine a brighter light on a mysterious
and misunderstood pivotal figure of history.”

Campbell didn’t feel a lot of weight on his shoulders because the script was so
brilliant and people were so passionate about doing this in the right way.

On filming the assassination scene, Johnson noted that “everyone
knew what they were doing and there was a solemn work ethic that took over that
night.” There was also excruciating attention to detail.

And, a fact that I found fascinating and was surprised I did
not previously know: Before Lincoln’s assassination, the White House doors were
never locked. You could come in and wait and talk to the President!